Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Well it’s official. My beloved team is gone. Words can’t express how destroyed I am. I posted this on my own blog, but thought some that might be familiar with the whole cluster might enjoy reading.

How did the Thrashers come to be in Atlanta.On June 25, 1997 the NHL awarded the City of Atlanta an expansion franchise to begin play in 1999-2000. On February 16, 1998 "Atlanta Thrashers" was announced as official team name. The team was named after the State Bird of Georgia, the Brown Thrasher. On October. 2, 1999 the Thrashers opened their 1999-2000 Inaugural Season before a sold-out crowd of 18, 545 at Philips Arena with a 4-1 loss to New Jersey.

Who owned Atlanta?Former AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., founder, "Ted" Turner, owned the team. Who wouldn't want to get your product going with Ted Turner in one of the largest media markets in the country? On March 31, 2004 announcement of the sale of the Thrashers, along with the NBA’s Hawks and operating rights to Philips Arena, to Atlanta Spirit, LLC from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. The eight partners who comprise the group are Steve Belkin, Michael Gearon, Jr., Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz, J. Rutherford Seydel, Todd Foreman, J. Michael Gearon, Sr., Bud Seretean, and Beau Turner.These nine businessmen are divided into three groups, each headquartered in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Boston, and each group shares equal voting power within the group.Although Ted Turner is not a part of this group, there are many connections to him: Beau Turner is the youngest son of Ted Turner. J. Rutherford Seydel is a son-in-law of Ted Turner. Michael Gearon Sr. was the general manager 1977–79), president (1977–1986) and chairman of the board (1986–2004) of the Atlanta Hawks under Turner's ownership. Bud Seretean is also a former president and general manager of the Hawks (1975–77) and a former board member of Turner Broadcasting System.

How did they run them?Almost immediately they began bickering and fighting amongst themselves. Come on, 9 people can't order pizza, let alone run a company. This is the biggest bunch of whiney, entitled, litigious bunch of assholes around. The first big fight started with on the Hawks side of things. In the summer of 2005, the Atlanta Hawks traded with the Phoenix Suns to obtain shooting guard Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw and two protected future first-round picks. While this trade met with the approval of the majority of the ownership group, Steve Belkin, who held a controlling vote as the Hawks Governor within the group, rejected it. So they tried to kick Belkin out which resulted in a multi-year court battle. The Spirit has always been accused of caring more about basketball than hockey. While the owners were busy fighting over toys like toddlers, they were also lying to fans. We were assured that the owners did not want to sell the Thrashers. We were told the Thrashers were staying put. It was only revealed to fans through legal documents that the Spirit wanted to sell. After five years of legal battles, on December 23, 2010, the group led by Gearon and Levenson announced they had bought out Belkin's ownership share in Atlanta Spirit. Two months later Michael Gearon held the infamous interview were he spoke of a “sense of urgency” regarding investors for the Thrashers.Once that lawsuit was done, the Spirit decided they really missed being in litigation and decided to sue their attorneys for malpractice to the tune of $200M. They claimed that the contract written by King & SpaldingLLP, was flawed and prevented the sale" of the Thrashers for six years. Atlanta Spirit contends the contract drafted in August '05 for the buyout of Belkin, made the ownership group "unable to sell or otherwise dispose of" the Thrashers, which it first aimed to do after the '04-05 NHL lockout. The lawsuit claims that King & Spalding's contract "caused the buyout process to 'quickly break down into chaos,So basically, these douchebags got the team from Papa Ted in 2004, planned to sell it a year later, then started fighting and couldn’t. They lied to the fans the whole time. They ran a bare bones ship and not investing any money in the team, yet want to blame the fans.Some descriptions of the Spirit:

AJC Blogger Bill Tiller:" Atlanta fans should not be "terribly shocked to learn that one of … if not THE … most dysfunctional collection of businessmen ever to own a sports franchise actually dared to speak untruths to their paying population."

AJC writer Jeff Schultz:They told you they cared. They lied. ... They told you not to pay attention to any of those rumors of the Thrashers being for sale, although they eventually admitted begrudgingly that, yes, they were looking for 'investors.' They lied." Now the owners "can't figure out how they’ve burned so many bridges in this town why fans still feel too angry or worn down to show up for a pretty decent team." Schultz: "If Atlanta loses its second NHL franchise, it won’t be because the sport failed here. It will be because ownership and management failed"

If there isn't enough fan support in Atlanta, why should a team stay there?Atlanta as a sports town sucks. We are a transplant city, nobody is “from” here. We also have a ton of choices on where to spend our disposable income. You have your hard core hockey fans, like me, but most are fair weather fans. To get those fair weather fans in, you have to win. It’s been established that the Spirit did nothing to put a winning team on the ice. They did no marketing. They did nothing to bring in new fans and did all they could to burn bridges and piss off old fans. We’ve averaged roughly between 13K and 15K. With the shit that the Spirit put on the ice, I’m surprised we had THAT many people show up. If you are going to have 13K hard core people show up through thick and thin, imagine what we could get there if we had an ownership that cared about us as much as they did the basketball team…an ownership that wasn’t trying to cut corners. I don’t have to imagine, I was at the playoff games. I remember. I remember the fans, the noise, the support. It was awesome. It could have been again.

The Spirit have been trying to sell the team for years.Because of the litigation, that is impossible. They might have WANTED to sell the team, but in reality it was a legal impossibility for them to be trying to sell. So, that means they were looking for buyers for a whopping 3 months.

They Spirit is trying to find local investors, but nobody wants to buy the Thrashers.Bullshit. Nobody wants to deal with the Spirit. We have had our share of kooks and rumors. The Balkan, Lil John, Stephen Rollins all turned out to be disappointments. There were several buyers who were legit. Unfortunately they wanted to purchase all three (Hawks, Thrashers and Phillips Arena). The Spirit were not interested. The Atlanta Spirit does not want hockey in the arena. They were not interested in selling just the Thrasher to a local buyer. Even if they were, who wants to deal with the Spirit when it comes to leases?

Why isn't Gary Bettman and the League fighting as hard for Atlanta as they did Pheonix?

That’s the magic question. Gary Bettman has been asked by the media as well as fans on his call-in radio show on XM “Are we going to see the same aggressive fight to keep hockey in Atlanta that we saw in Phoenix.” Gary dances around the issue by talking about how it’s different in Phoenix because they own them. They have a bigger presence because they own the team and need to be in on the day to day running of the team. No shit, Gary. We get that. What we want to know is whether or not you would go to the extremes for us that you did for Phoenix. We have our answer. Bettman didn't "fight hard" to stay in Atlanta, that is HORSE SHIT.

Who is the True north and why do they want the team?True North Sports and Entertainment own the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and operate the MTS Centre. The MTS Centre is where the Manitoba Moose play and where our Thrashers, with their new name, will play next season. Why do they want the team? Because they are fucking Canada! I don’t blame them for wanting it one bit. Winnipeg has been NHL hungry for years since the league took the Jets. Not only will investing in an NHL team be a sound financial decision for the TNSE, but they will be heroes! TSNE were originally circling around Phoenix, but when the city of Glendale voted to give the NHL $25M to secure the Coyotes for another in which to find owners, TSNE turned it’s attention to us.

Congratulations to Winnipeg, I know you’ve been dying for an NHL team since the Jets left. I know you will take good care of my boys. I don’t fault the city or TNSE at all. I lay the blame squarely where it belongs, at the feet of the Atlanta Spirit LLC and Gary Bettman. Taking a team (for the second time) from the 8th largest media market and putting it in Winnipeg does not GROW the sport. People in the Peg already know how awesome hockey is. The sport was growing here. More rinks were going up, more kids were playing hockey. I honestly don’t know how that will continue with the Thrashers gone.

I also don't know how my blog will continue. I have a photoblog, therefore need to take pictures. I might convert it to a Predators blog as I will be trying to attend as many of those games as possible.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

I was on a roll for a while there... so kind of like interest, I have to write more questions for every day I'm late.1.) How are you feeling about your team of choice lately?2.) What is one thing you ALWAYS have in the fridge?3.) Do you do any kind of big spring clean?4.) Did you play computer games as a kid (or as an adult?)5.) Have you ever done yoga?6.) Can you name the 8 planets (NO CHEATING!!)7.) How many keys are on your keyring?

Friday, February 25, 2011

1.) Do you read the newspaper?2.) If you're a coffee/tea drinker, do you you use your own mug? How about reusable water bottles?3.) What is your favorite kind of sandwich?4.) Where would you go/what would you do this weekend if you had unlimited money and nothing you had to do?5.) What is the one recent fad you wish would fall off the face of the Earth?

Friday, February 18, 2011

1.) What would your absolute dream job be?2.) Of all the delicious desserts in the world, which do you like best?3.) Any baseball fans out there? (Pitchers and catchers!!)4.) Last book you read? (Bonus: would you recommend it?)5.) Do you keep your desk clean?

Friday, February 04, 2011

So I seriously fail...I promised that I'd post this like two (or was it three?) weeks ago, but school kind of took over. Sorry!Since we're getting HLOG going again, I thought I'd continue with the time hono(u)red tradition of the Friday Five!

1.) Best holiday gift?2.) Any New Year's resolutions?3.) Did you watch the Winter Classic?4.) What are your thoughts on snow?5.) Do you Twitter?

Friday, December 31, 2010

Today's Q&A update is with McPhizzle. Her original Q&A can be found here.

1. What are you up to these days? Still blogging (provide your blog name and link)? Why or why not?
When I first filled this out, I was 23, working at a funeral home in the town I grew up in and had just retired from pageants. I am now job hunting in a new town, where I live with my boyfriend and have started coaching girls for pageants. I still blog from time to time on "Musings". Now it's mostly about my own life and every-day revelations instead of hockey. I tweet, so I guess I micro-blog, but that's mostly word vomit, frustrations and stuff I want to say, but don't post on my facebook so my Mr and my mom don't see.

2. Have you changed team allegiances, or are you still in love with the team you represented on HLOG?
I'm still a shark fan! In fact, my partner introduced me to his Wing-loving co-worker as, "This is McP. The shark fan." He shook my hand and said, "Go Wings." My answer was, "I'll pray for you."

3. How do you feel about your team this year?
I'm not a fair-weather fan. They don't have the best record, but 4th in the West doesn't suck and I still support them!

4. Who is your favorite player now?
Still love me some Jumbo Joe Thornton! (However, it is now a professional love. The lust is gone haha)

5. Are we too old to use the term SQUEE?
Are you kidding me? I know women who still squee about the Beatles. Now I tend to use the term more for things than people...

6. Do you feel that the role of the female fan in keeping the game alive or picking heroes in the community has changed any since you were on HLOG?
I don't think the role of female fans has changed, but I do think the NHL and lower leagues have finally started to actually LISTEN to the female fans and include their opinions and suggestions in merchandise and marketing. Like I said in my very first HLOG Q&A, Merchandice, Marketing and Manmeat. We fill the seats, we bring our friends, we introduce our kids/bfs/husbands to the game. I'm also convinced that hockey moms make the world go 'round.

7. Hockey just isn’t the same without Jeremy Roenick dancing on the ice.

8. Favorite HLOG memory?
Finny calling me after the Ducks took the Sharks out of the 2009 playoffs. My mom had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the phone call (even though it was to gloat) made me feel like I wasn't alone when I needed it the most. I also QUITE enjoy the HLOG Christmas/Holiday card exchanges!

9. How do you feel the blog community has changed since our HLOG days?
Honestly, I'm so far removed from it, that I couldn't answer this question properly. I guess the introduction of twitter and that whole micro-blogging bit is a big change... Most of my tweets lately have been about.... well, read number 10

10. Have you reached any milestones in the last few years, personally, that you’re willing to share with us all? Do you have any upcoming milestones in the foreseeable future? (ahem, wedding? baby? book deal? etc?)
We are planning a wedding late next summer! My days are kept quite busy with planning that and taking care of our fur babies - Max (5 year-old boxer), Minnie (8 month-old lab/shepherd mix) and Edouard (2 year-old kitteh).